The Dr. Psych Mom Show with clinical psychologist Dr. Samantha Rodman Whiten

Please subscribe here to hear my prior episode about healthy boundaries vs anxious rigidity!  That one built off my picky eating episode.  In today's episode, I expand on the idea of bringing your best and your fullest most generous self to your marriage. A reader suggested I discuss how to keep the momentum going when your marriage is finally going better!  If you've been working hard on connection, how do you keep motivated through ups and downs and not just coast, which of course will eventually lead to regression?   Links: 100 Date Night Questions: Use Any Time You Want to Feel Closer Small Talk: The Not So Silent Relationship Killer  Women: Sex Is A Way To Work On Your Marriage But Not If You Phone It In  Seven Awesome Conversation Starters With Your Husband (or wife)

Subscribe here for bonus episodes! You may be surprised to learn how often I see picky eaters have other issues in their marriages!  Listen and learn about what picky eating tends to represent, the importance of open mindedness and flexibility in relationships, and which type of people tend to end up in frustrating relationships with partners who have endless "boundaries" about what they will and won't do in every area of life. Links: If You're More Open-Minded Outside The Bedroom, Your Wife May Be More Openminded In The Bedroom 10 Ways To Tell If Your Partner Will Stop Enjoying Sex After Marriage and Kids How Do Couples Resolve Disagreements While Both Getting Their Needs Met? 

In this episode, I discuss my own requirement for a partner that I came up with at age 6 and how the specifications given by most adults in this arena are no less anxiety-driven and useless.  Focusing on the big picture and especially the three things I discuss will help you open your mind and perhaps find someone to love that you wouldn't have found if you stuck to your stringent requirements.  Thanks for listening and please SUBSCRIBE! Links: Key Areas Of Compatibility For Second Marriages  How Can I Create An Emotionally Healthy Relationship?

A subscriber wrote in about her annoying 6 year old.  I give her some tips on how to deal with him without going insane herself.  There also may be many other issues at play, in both you and your kid, if you are in a parent-child relationship that feels very hard. Listen for other things to think about and ways to normalize how you feel. Especially relevant for parents of kids with behavior/mood issues. Listen to this podcast episode for more on this. Links: I Don't Like My Five Year Old  I Don't Love My Kids  10 Ways To Deal When You Don't Like Your Child That Much I Don't Like Spending Time With My Daughter - Dr. Psych Mom

Subscribe here to access all episodes!  In this episode I discuss an interesting thought experiment: what would happen to your marriage if physical intimacy (aka sex and cuddling) was the automatic default in your marriage, versus an extra thing that gets crammed into the schedule randomly?  When partners can rely on intimacy being a regular part of every day, they feel much closer and start looking forward to every night or morning (whenever you time it). I discuss the hows and whys of this idea.  Share with your partner even just to think about what it could be like! If you are a Dad Starting Over fan, sign up for our Zoom event on whether monogamy can work here! https://events.zoom.us/ev/ALRxKTP6PeG7CacB_qbwNhHXaPGk46c1jLkaB8dN7jpRwigdlXsIN9TRHKtgaB0yFMZmmHQ?lmt=1648863467000 Links: 8 Reasons That Women Don't Want Sex At Night What Would Your Husband Act Like If He Got All The Physical Affection He Wanted? (or whoever the higher libido partner is) Is Physical Touch The Most Important Love Language?

Access all bonus episodes by subscribing here: https://anchor.fm/drpsychmomshow/subscribe Building off of this post, I discuss why the idea that both parents should act identically is unhealthy and unhelpful. Often, women say their husbands are harsher on the kids than they are, and the husbands are made to apologize for acting differently than their wives do towards the kids.  This is imbalanced and prevents kids from learning from and respecting different ways of engaging in the world.  Listen to this episode and share with your partner if you have been guilty of the error that mom always knows best in the arena of literally what personality dad should have. Links: Treat Your Partner As Well As You Treat Your Kids Don't Compulsively Verbalize And Validate Your Kids' Emotions Exposing Your Child To Constant Marital Conflict Is Child Abuse

Everyone thinks they deserve a dynamic, unconditionally loving, fun and attractive partner... but what are you bringing to the table?  How would you come off if you went on a date with a new person acting as you do at home?  My podcast gives you an assignment of a new way to think about this, and helps you do a potentially difficult but incredibly useful deep dive into who you are and how you may need to change to get the marriage that you long for.  Please subscribe everyone! https://anchor.fm/drpsychmomshow/subscribe Therapy: www.bestlifebehavioralhealth.com Links: What Do Women Want? Therapist Tells All What Do Men Want? Therapist Tells All, Again 

Become a Paid Subscriber: https://anchor.fm/drpsychmomshow/subscribe A reader requested the topic "how to know if you're raising emotionally intelligent kids" but I figured many people may want to know what to do if you see that you're not!  In this episode, I discuss the number one way to promote empathy and emotional understanding in your kids.  It may be both simpler and harder than you think!  Please subscribe if you learned something new! Links: Mothers: Share Your Feelings With Your Son To Help Him Later Understand Women How to Teach Your Kids Empathy  Don't Compulsively Verbalize And Validate Your Kids' Emotions

Subscribe if you learned something new! https://anchor.fm/drpsychmomshow/subscribe In this episode, I discuss how it's healthy and adaptive to train your partner to meet your needs, why you may think this is impossible or have biases against the idea of this, and even how to model this healthy dynamic for your kids!  I address the myth of it being somehow less genuine or meaningful to have to teach someone how to treat you; in fact, the earlier and more directly you can train your partner how to treat you, the better your marriage will be!  Links: It Isn’t Bad If Your Husband Needs To Learn The Words To Make You Feel Close People Pleasing Daughters Of Covertly Narcissistic Moms (often have trouble asserting their needs) Five Steps to Directly and Effectively Communicate in Relationships

Subscribe if you love these episodes!!  https://anchor.fm/drpsychmomshow/subscribe In this episode, I discuss why women often feel their bodies drop off a cliff in their 40's, and what happens to their minds and personalities.  Anyone who is or is married to, or WILL be married to, a 40 year old woman, should listen to this episode!  Essential listening to figure out why this age yields so much more independence :) but a lot less niceness :( Please subscribe and thanks for listening! If you are a Dad Starting Over fan, sign up for our Zoom event on whether monogamy can work here! https://events.zoom.us/ev/ALRxKTP6PeG7CacB_qbwNhHXaPGk46c1jLkaB8dN7jpRwigdlXsIN9TRHKtgaB0yFMZmmHQ?lmt=1648863467000 Links: Issues That 40 (and 50!) Year Old Women Still Struggle With 5 Things That Many Women Experience In Their Late 30's and Early 40's I'm Turning 40, Now What Do I Do With My Life?